Uninvited
by phoenixreal
Summary: AU: Modern. Ed does what he has to do so his brother has a chance to walk again. He works at a brothel called the Lotus Blossom, and rents a cheap old mansion nearby. Once there, though, he finds that he has some uninvited guests. They say they need his help, but who will help who? YAOI/M/M NonCON
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

The Curse of Seven Sins

Edward Elric pushed his brother, Alphonse, in the wheelchair up the ramp into the home they had just rented. Two weeks ago, Edward, a full-time college student, and his brother had moved to Central City. Central City was the capital of the large country of Amestris, and the home of Central University. Central University was perhaps one of the best science schools in the world, and it was the one place that Ed wanted to be. His grades in high school, at least most of them, had been stellar.

He had ended up graduating high school late due to the horrific injuries he acquired during a car crash when he was fifteen. It was a little embarrassing to explain why he had graduated high school at twenty, but it had taken two years for him to recover enough to return to school. Learning to use automail limbs had taken a year of that after his body was modified to accept the experimental technology. Because of the accident, or perhaps because of the damage to his body, Ed had never grown taller than five foot five in height, and his body had retained the slim, small stature. Because Al liked to braid Ed's hair when his hands were working well, Ed didn't cut his hair, and just let it grow. Right now, it was pulled up high on his head and fell in the braid that Al had done this morning.

That same car crash had paralyzed his younger brother. Unfortunately, the damage to Al did not have a known cure. His spine had been damaged severely, and he often suffered swelling and pain around his back and limbs. He was unable to move his legs at all, and he could only move his arms in small amounts. The wheelchair he used was equipped with a panel that let Al operate it with a mouthpiece when he was unable to use his arms.

Behind them, their cousin Winry carried several of their bags. Winry was well into a graduate program at the age of twenty-four, having left home almost six years ago to attend school. Winry was actually the source of Ed's authomail arm and leg that had replaced the real ones. The mangled limbs had been amputated with no hope of them healing. Winry, a student in biomedical engineering, had a design for prosthetic limbs that attached to the nerve centers of the body. While they couldn't "feel" like normal limbs, they could sense pressure and were far easier to use than other prosthetics. The world was revolutionary, to say the least, but with the technology being new and experimental, sometimes Ed suffered malfunctions. Ed was technically her primary research subject and the person she tested all of new ideas on. It could be painful, but in the end, he was able to walk and work.

The day before, she had come home to pick the two brothers up from their old house and bring them to the home they'd found. The place had super cheap rent, and was only a few blocks from the school. The deal had been too good to pass up on, despite the rumors of the place being haunted.

As Ed paused at the door to fumble with the keys, Winry looked up at the place. The house did look like something out of a hunted house movie. It was three stories, and each floor was perhaps a thousand square feet. The exterior was all peeling brown pain, but the interior was nice.

"Ed, are you sure this place is safe? It looks really old."

"The realtor said that it was just vacant for a while, that's why I got it so cheap. The rent here is half of what the rent on a place the size of one of these rooms is. I really couldn't pass it up," Ed said as he pushed the old, heavy wooden door open with a loud creaking sound. He moved back and pushed AL's chair into the foyer. He felt a chill as soon as he passed through the door.

 _"Shush," the black-haired woman whispered as she peered down the heavy staircase. She glanced back at the others waiting behind her. All seven of them had gathered on the second floor landing to watch as the new residents of the house moved in. "They'll hear us."_

 _"So?" The one with the spiked black hair muttered. "We're gonna reveal ourselves to the blond soon anyway, right?" He rolled his eyes, and there was a slight sheen of blue to his skin for a second. He stood tall and thick, and had eyes that were hard as steel._

 _"Yes, but the other one, the one in the wheelchair, and that female can't know," she hissed as she watched down below. No one but the target of their focus could know they existed, otherwise the curse wouldn't be broken. "This is our chance…"_

 _"He really gonna break our curse, Lust?" the rotund and bald man whispered. He had a childish voice, high pitched and grating on the nerves._

 _"Gluttony, hush," Lust said and pushed him backward away from the railing. She didn't need him tumbling over the edge or something ridiculous like that. "I hope. When he passed the threshold the first time, I felt that he has need of all of us, unlike the ones that have come before."_

 _The smallest of them, a little boy with black hair and a frown that wore a blue suit, looked through the bars. "I hope so. I've been stuck here for almost three hundred years now. They come and go and nothing changes."_

 _Lust ruffled the boy's hair. "Don't worry, Pride. Just trust me. You sensed it, too, you just don't want to say it out loud," she said as she stood back up._

 _"How can someone like me help that pipsqueak?" the figure with black spiked hair and a skirt wrapped about his body muttered. "I don't want anything he has, so why should I help him?"_

 _Lust sighed again. "I guess that you will have the toughest time, Envy. You are the youngest, after all. You've only been here thirty years."_

 _"Pfft." Envy sputtered and rolled his eyes as he glanced over at the large figure sprawled on the floor asleep. "I thought Sloth was younger than me?"_

 _"Only by a few years," The tall man with eyepatch said with a sigh as he rolled over onto his side enough to look through the bars of the railing._

 _"How long for you, Wrath?" Envy muttered, watching the blonde women bring in more things._

 _"About as long as Greed," He said, nodding toward the spiked haired figured. "Almost two hundred."_

 _Envy leapt on the rail and stared. "This pipsqueak better do the job. I don't wanna be here that long."_

Winry shivered violently. "Ed, doesn't it feel like someone is watching you in this place?" she asked, looking about the living room.

Ed looked up and around as he pushed Al into the front room. "I like this house," Al said, finally lifting his head from a nap. "Brother, is my bedroom down here?"

"Yeah, we won't need to use the upstairs at all, Al. We've got two bedrooms down here and a living room. There's a big kitchen and dining room," Ed said as he stopped in the living room. "I thought the deal on this place was really good since it has all the furnishings too."

Winry looked around again. "I don't know, Ed. This place is kinda creepy. At the University, they say that the whole place is haunted. Like, people see things in here, and there used to be a running dare that people who could stay all night were stronger than anyone else, and you're going to live here."

"Guess I'll be the strongest, then," Ed said and smiled at her.

"I'll come by tomorrow," she told him as she started to turn away.

"Ah, after noon, okay?" Ed said. "I have my night job tonight. I'll sleep in."

"Where are you working at night this late?" Winry frowned at him.

Ed smiled. His smile was fake looking, and felt that way too. "Oh, I got a cleaning job at a restaurant nearby. But the hours are while they're closed, of course."

"Which one?" Winry asked as Ed walked with her to the front door.

"Um, you know, the one down off Main and seven," Ed muttered.

As Winry stepped outside, she turned back and grinned. "Ed, your father would be so happy for you. You've done so well, taking care of Ed, and now going to school after you managed to master the limbs I made for you. He would have loved to see how well you did for yourself."

The sound that came out of Ed's mouth wasn't quite what he expected, but he turned it into a throat clearing. "Ah, yeah," he managed. "Night, Winry."

Ed shut the door and put his forehead against it for a moment. How could she have known? She couldn't because he never said anything, but every time she brought up their father, he felt like he was dying a little inside. He didn't want to think about him, and he really didn't want to remember the things that had happened. No, he couldn't think about that. He would just have to go to work.

It was a lie, of course. He wasn't cleaning a restaurant at all.

After Ed had fixed a dinner of noodles for Al and himself, then got Al washed up for the night, he got his younger brother settled into his room.

"Brother, is everything okay with this? I know that the last caretaker said there was no way you could take care of me alone," Al said as he used his somewhat useless arms to adjust the blankets around him.

The accident that had taken Ed's arm and leg and his brother's ability to walk had taken their father as well. Since then, it had just been Ed and Al together. For a while, they lived with Winry's grandmother, Pinako Rockbell. Pinako had been their mother's aunt. They had lived with her while they recovered after the accident. Of course, Ed and Al had lost their mother even before then to a sickness. That loss had led to the accident, though not in the way most people thought.

Sometimes, all Ed could see was their father's face contorted in a mask of fury as he steered the car straight over the edge of the cliff. He'd been drunk and enraged, and Ed was very glad that Al couldn't' remember anything about that day. The questions Ed had to answer when he had awakened in the hospital about the condition he'd been in before the accident had been bad enough. He couldn't ever let Al remember that night, not ever. What Al had seen, what Al had said to their father, that had been what had sent the man over the edge and made him finally try and kill them all.

Ed shook away the thoughts and turned a smiling face on Al. "You have the phone, and at my work promised that I could leave if you needed me for some reasons while I'm on shift. So it will be fine, Al, I promise. And this way, we don't have to pay some stranger to sit with you. After that last one robbed us, I just don't think I can trust anyone again." That wasn't entirely the truth. The last one had found out what job Ed did every night when he left and tried to blackmail him into paying him more. He found out that Ed's artificial limbs were stronger than normal ones.

"Good night, Al," Ed said with a soft grin as he patted his little brother's blonde hair. He was already falling asleep, and Ed felt tears in his eyes again. He would do anything to fix his brother again. Anything. If that meant working this kind of job, it would be what he had to do.

It was nearly ten when he stood in the bathroom putting on the makeup and changing into the kimono with the lacy undergarments he had purchased recently with his garter belt and his stockings. He sighed as he painted on the lipstick and pinned his hair up on the top of his head. He would wear a mask, of course, but the lower half of his face and his eyes could be seen around the mask. The more makeup he wore, the less likely he was to be recognized outside of his workplace. He supposed it was a good thing they didn't have neighbors that would see him leaving like this most nights. He pulled on the red overcoat that he wore and pulled the hood over his head. He stepped out, locking the door behind him.

The real reason for this place had been because it was in walking distance of his night job. He walked with his head down until he got to a place that was lit up brightly. Immediately, someone slapped his ass as he walked through the area around the entrance. He didn't let it bother him, of course, why should he?

"You're almost late, Ed," came the Matron's voice from behind the counter as he removed his coat and hung it on the wall. He turned and faced the severe looking dark-haired woman. Lan Fan was her name, but no one used it if they were inside. Inside this the Lotus Blossom, she was Matron. He glanced behind her to see the owner, Ling Yao, playing on his own phone and ignoring everyone.

Ling Yao was the youngest member of the Xingese noble Yao family. The brothel called the Lotus Blossom was his responsibility. Luckily for the uninterested Ling, Lan was there to keep him in line and keep the business running. Like Lan, no one used Ling's name inside the place. Here, he was Owner.

"I know, I'm sorry. I was getting my brother settled. Our first night in the new place," he said as he held his phone out to her. "You promised that if my brother's name comes up you'll send for me?"

"I promised. I know you have special circumstances, but you still better bring in a decent profit this week. You don't have to worry about some weird caretaker now at your place since you live in the haunted mansion now," Ling said without looking up from his phone.

Lan took it. "Go on, I think there's Kagema customers already out there."

The Lotus Blossom had two different sections. When someone entered, there was a wide corridor down the middle of with luxuriant sofas lining the walls on either side. The left-hand side was the Kagema workers, or the male workers who dressed in kimonos and makeup exclusively for male clients. The right had the regular workers, both male and female. There was a variety of appearances there, and included the male workers that specialized in topping or with women. These had no theme to their dress like the Kagema workers did.

Ed was one of six regular Kagema. He, with his bright gold hair and slight figure, was extremely popular. Yao was a good Owner though, and no one had to fear any of the clientele. There was a no tolerance policy for violent johns, and anyone that did break the rules got black-listed. Ed really had nothing to fear from anyone in this place. Unlike a few of the other places he had worked before Ling had found him, this place was legal and well run. The pay was good, so he couldn't complain. An hour working here got him more than a week at a regular job, and considering that he was pre-paying for an extremely expensive surgery that could possibly repair Al's spine and allow him to walk again, he couldn't stop working this type of job. The money was just too good. Considering that he had to put money back for the surgery and support them, there was no way that he could work a regular job.

He pulled out the mask and slipped it on, securing it with the straps. The Kagema were all masked, but Ed had to take extra precautions. He wore opaque stockings with a garter belt holding them up to disguise his leg, and long, white opaque gloves that extended up to his biceps. He kept the kimono on over it so that his arm and the connection to the shoulder was hidden. He had yet to have a client take enough time to both trying to undress him fully. He adjusted himself and sat back on the sofa to wait.

It didn't take a long time, a man with dark hair walked by with another dark-haired man and a man with blond hair. They were chatting, but the first man stopped and locked eyes with him. Ed's most striking feature as a Kagema was his golden colored eyes, he couldn't help the smirk that found his way to his lips. That feature alone had netted him many clients.

"Ah, this boy, a Kagema," he said as he stared at him. Ed was pleased because this one was nice looking, and might actually be a fun client for a change. Most of the greasy, smelly men he dealt with didn't really know what to do with him. This guy had neat black hair, piercing eyes, and wore white gloves.

"Oh, Roy, really? A Kagema tonight?" the blond beside him said with a smirk.

Ed stood up, bowing at them. "If it is your wish, follow me, sir," Ed said and turned, the pale red kimono sweeping the ground as he turned. He glanced behind him once to see the man was following him a couple steps behind. His two companions had gone to the other side and were talking to a couple of the girls.

As the door closed behind the client, Ed bowed again. "I am ready for whatever you desire. Please instruct me in your will."

"Undress for me?" Roy said. He had leaned back against the wall and was watching Ed with a strong intensity.

"That I cannot do," Ed said and stood up straight. "Kagema are a mystery, so we do not remove our clothing."

"Then the mask?" He asked as he came close to Ed.

Ed turned his face away and stepped back. "My mask remains. Please, you may want another partner for the night," Ed started to turn but Roy grabbed his arm.

"No, I can work with it. Will you… Will you ride me, then?" Roy said with a devious looking smirk on his face.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Roy rarely indulged in something like going to one of the legal Brothels that existed in Central City. The Lotus Blossom was perhaps one of the most upscale ones in the area, so when he had been asked to go to it by Havoc and Breda, he'd gone along. He hadn't expected to become enraptured by the blond Kagema with the gold eyes. That was so very rare.

After they had gone several rounds, Roy thought that the boy he'd purchased was exhausted so he'd let him sleep. Curiosity, though, was killing him. He thought he'd wake the boy if he tried to lift the mask, but he did want to see something. While Roy had been fucking the boy in several ways, he'd felt something was just off about his arm and his leg. Both were covered, so he had no idea for sure. As he slept, he pushed the sleeve of the kimono up and saw that he had some sort of integrated metal arm attached at the shoulder of his right. He checked down his left leg and found that his leg had also been replaced by a metallic limb just above the knee. He replaced the clothes and waited. He had told him he'd wake him after an hour had passed. Roy himself drowsed a bit, but after a bit, he shook him awake.

"Wha?" he muttered. "You okay, Al?"

"Hey, you needed to be awake in an hour, um, right?" Roy stammered.

"Oh," the boy said and sat up. "Yeah, thank you. Please, come again."

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

The sun was rising as Ed put his coat back on. As usual, he cleaned his face before he left, so that if someone saw him in the morning they wouldn't equate him to working at the Lotus. He wasn't sure why it was so important that he hide where he worked. It wasn't like it was illegal or anything.

As he stepped into the house, though, he sensed something was off. He blinked and heard a noise upstairs. That was strange, he thought. No one should be there at all. He slowly walked up the stairs to the second level. He'd been up there before, but only once when the realtor lady was showing them around.

Ed came out into the entry from the landing and didn't see anyone at first. There were shadows moving here and there, but he couldn't catch sight of anything. Was there someone else in the house? He knew it had been empty before, but he couldn't be sure that there was no one here now. He turned to leave and found himself beginning to get frightened by the house for the first time.

"My, my, a little whore like me," came a female voice from behind him.

Turning around, Ed found himself facing a statuesque women with black hair and a strange mark on her chest above her breasts. She was in a black strapless dress and she smiled. "Well, at least I used to be one at a local brothel. But that was years and years ago. Because of the curse, I'm stuck in this house now, waiting for you."

"Wait, who are you? What curse?" Ed said, glancing behind her to see that he was blocked into the room without a way out.

"Hey, you really gotta help us out, man," another voice, this time he turned around to see a hulking man with a cover over his eye and watched as he yawned. "Different for each of us. I'm Sloth. That's Lust."

"I'm Gluttony!" came a higher pitched voice and Ed jumped as a large, round man stepped out of the shadows. "I like food."

"What's happening?" Ed asked as he turned around again, this time, a man with dark hair in an old army uniform was standing in front of him.

"My boy, you are the one that can break the curse on the seven of us. We used to be human. Well, now we're somewhere between human and ghosts, I guess." The man smiled and Ed saw that he had an eyepatch too.

"I don't… how can I help you?" Ed asked. "And were you here all the time? When I was here before? How did you even get in here?"

"We've been her all along, waiting," a child's voice this time. Ed turned and saw a little boy with black hair staring at him.

Ed nearly screamed when someone grabbed him from behind and he spun around faced another figure, this one a smirking face with a head of black spiked hair. "What…." He muttered.

"The little one there is Pride, I'm Envy, and the uniform wearing fellow is Wrath. The last of us is over there in the corner, Greed," the one clinging to his back said. "So, tell me pipsqueak, how are you going to help all of us?"

"I don't know…" Ed said as he looked between the seven people that were somehow in his house and apparently always had been.

Lust stepped forward and put a gentle hand on Ed's shoulder. "There was a demon, named Father. He found each of us and cursed us while we were humans. Each of us was given a specific task, though even we don't know what that task is. We have to try and figure out how to break the curse. All we know is that when we have someone we've chosen to help, that by helping we break the curse on ourselves, that no one else can know we exist or the curse doesn't break at the end. So we help you, and by doing so, you help us."

"I don't understand," Ed said. "How come no one knows you're here already?"

Lust smiled and then disappeared in a puff of shadow. She appeared a second later. "Remember, we're not really alive anymore. We're attached to this house, and we're attached to you now. The house chose you."

"Chose me?" Ed asked.

"You see, the thing with this curse is that there is no way for us to break our curse alone," Wrath said as he watched Ed carefully. "There have been many people that come and go; those the house has chosen before you. They weren't willing or able to help us. So, this time, we decided to reveal ourselves all at ocne to you."

"What do you have to do?" Ed inquired, feeling a strange kinship to these strange people. Or were they ghosts?

Lust sighed. "Well, each of us used to be human. Because of who we were, what we did, we became cursed. We know what caused us to be chosen, of course, but the solution to our release is something we have to figure out ourselves. The Father demon didn't tell us exactly what to do about it."

"I think we have to do the opposite of what got us cursed in the first place," Greed said as he walked toward Ed. "Each of us became what our greatest sin was. Now, we have to undo our sin."

Ed nodded, thinking he understood. "I think I get it, but I have no idea where I fit in?"

"You are who we have to help." Lust smiled and patted his head. "You work a brothel at night to help your brother, and you hide something deep inside that you want no one to know."

Ed nodded slowly. "I have secrets I can never tell, even to , I have to think about this, and I have class in about three hours, so I need to sleep a little. I'll… I'll come up tonight after Al goes to bed and we can talk before I go to the Lotus Blossom."

Ed jogged back down the stairs and stopped at the bottom. He looked up, half expecting no one to be there. Instead, Lust stood at the top and waved at him before she disappeared in a puff. So it wasn't a dream.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

"Late on the first day?" the professor snapped as Ed tried to sneak into the room without being noticed. He winced as he slid into his seat and looked up. Oh, that was awkward, he thought, as he recognized the man he'd had as a client the night before sitting in the desk at the front of the class.

"Sorry, sir, I have a disabled brother, he needed help this morning," he lied, because he had actually just overslept some.

"Name?"

"Edward Elric, sir."

"Well, since you're late, you get to start the round of introductions we were about to start," the professor said with a smirk.

"Ah, yes, sir," Ed sighed. He hated this sort of thing. "Um, what should I say?"

"I asked for what your major is, one fact about you, and why you took this class," he informed Ed.

Ed licked his lips, running a hand over his loose bangs. Al hadn't been in a good place with his hands this morning and hadn't been able to braid his hair. He'd done it himself, and it was never as good as when Al did it.

"Ah, I'm a chemistry major, I have a brother who requires a lot of my attention, and I took this as my history class because I want to know more about military history."

"Since you werne't here for my introduction, Mr. Elric, I'm Professor Roy Mustang, and this is my first year teaching here. I graduated from this very school last year."

Mustang. Ed found himself smiling at the name. He couldn't help but watch the man as others did their introductions. No one else really caught his attention, but he thought Roy was fascinating. He had just graduated last year, so that meant he wasn't really that much older than Ed. That put him at perhaps twenty-five or so. If that. Not everyone took so long as Ed had to get into school, but he had obviously done military service.

At the end of class, Ed stopped at Roy's desk. "Um, sir, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Roy looked up at him and frowned. "What is it?"

"Sir, I wasn't lying about my brother. I just wanted to let you know that he really is disabled. He's paralyzed from the waist down and sometimes loses use of his arms, so if he has a really bad morning, I might be late. If I could have your cell number, I could text you when something happens," Ed was hoping that he would be reasonable. He couldn't imagine the gentle lover he'd had the night before would be unreasonable.

Roy glared at him. "You want special treatment already?"

"No, not that, I just want to be able to tell you when something happens. I'll take responsibility for it, but I would rather tell you than not," Ed stammered. He didn't want Roy to think he was trying to get favoritism.

Despite his words, Roy handed over a card with his cell number. Ed took it and put it in his pocked. "Um, thank you, sir, I will only use it when something comes up." He turned to leave and Roy called after him.

"Don't expect that anyone around here is going to give you special treatment because you take care of an invalid. You are still expected to do your work like everyone else."

Roy watched him leave and knew for sure. That had been the boy he'd visited at the brothel. When he'd reached out for the card, Roy had caught sight of the metal above the gloves he wore. No one else could have those eyes, that golden hair, and metal prosthetic limbs. He swallowed a ball in his throat as he watched the door. Now, he had to somehow teach someone he'd slept with. He was, however, impressed by the fact the boy didn't seem to have a problem having a client as a teacher. He guessed that with a job like that, he had to be able to handle being around his clients in the real world.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Juggling Responsibilities

By end of his first day at school, Ed realized he was exhausted. This was going to be a lot harder than he imagined keeping up with this schedule. He came into the house and dropped his bag by the door. He went to the living room where Al was sitting in his chair watching TV. Ed came in and patted him on the shoulder.

"Everything alright while I was in class?" he asked as he sat down on the couch beside the chair.

"Everything has been fine, brother," Al said, smiling at him. "My hands have been cooperative this afternoon."

"I'm glad to hear that, Al. I have to get some sleep; will you be alright for a couple hours?" Ed was afraid he was going to fall asleep sitting up if he didn't lay down for a little while.

"Oh, of course, brother. I'm enjoying watching some shows I haven't seen before," Al told him with a slight smile.

Ed nodded and stood up. "I'll set my phone alarm for two hours from now, so I can check on you again. If you need anything before then, just come pound on the door."

He kissed Al on the head and went into the room he'd claimed as his own. It still smelled a bit musty, and the whole place was covered in a thin layer of dust, but it was good enough for him. He fell into the bed, finding it was comfortable if old. He soon drifted off to sleep and into dreams he rather not think of.

The dream that visited him was an old one. It had been a common thing for him to see behind his eyelids during the nights of his most stressful days. He was at home, and it was not long after their mother died, perhaps a couple of years. Al was there, but he wasn't really in the dream. Ed could just sense his presence and know he was there.

Their father was drunk. This meant bad things for both Ed and Al. He'd been drinking much more since their mother had died. He often got physically violent especially with Ed. Ed had a tendency to step between his father and his brother. To the eleven-year-old boy, his father looked like a monster to him. It was of course a memory for Ed, one that Al didn't know had happened. He would keep Al from knowing what had happened at all costs.

Ed didn't know what had caused the reaction. He had no idea why it had happened, or what his father had been thinking in his drunken state. He just remembered being hit, falling to the ground, then being pushed down with their father over him. He didn't know what to do; he had just frozen. He remembered pain, and utter humiliation at what had happened. He didn't want anyone to know, and when his father was sober, he told him no one could know, or else Al would pay the price. So, Ed stayed quiet, and when it happened again, he still kept it from everyone. Who would have believed him in any case? His father was a good man, well respected. How would anyone believe that he'd so horribly abused his own son?

Things shifted to the night of the accident, like they always did. Ed was trying to calm his father down, but he wasn't calming down. Al had been looking for something to eat, and not finding anything in the house. For some reason this night, when Al said something about it, their father had gone off. He'd been drinking most the day, and Al's comment seemed the last straw.

He'd told them both to get their coats and come with him to the car. Neither Ed nor Al wanted to go with their father, but he grabbed Al by the arm and pulled him along with him. Ed was forced to follow so he could stay with Al and make sure nothing happened to him.

Things went fuzzy for a while, but their father was yelling at them, telling them how they were the cause of everything that had happened in their lives. Al was sobbing by that point, and Ed didn't know what to do because they were weaving in and out of the lane as they drove. He begged his father to stop, to just stop. But he wouldn't. Then they were flying off the road, and everything turned into red pain and black darkness for Ed.

He sat up with a gasp and put a hand to his chest. He heard the phone alarm going off and he shut it off quickly. He swallowed and crawled out of bed, still wearing his clothes from class. He hadn't even thought of changing them. He would be changing for work in a few minutes. He made his way into the kitchen with an exhausted sigh.

Ed numbly went through the motions of fixing dinner for Al. The dream was making him feel sluggish and slow. Dream, he thought. It was more than that, it was memories that wouldn't leave him alone. He swallowed thickly as he sat down a plate for each of them.

"Ready, Al," he called and sat down himself.

Al seemed to be having a good day because he was using the hand control pad to move the wheelchair around. Ed was glad of that. He deserved to have as many good days as possible.

"It smells good, brother," Al said as he pulled up to the table.

"Thanks, Al," he answered, taking a bite and thinking that he still had to go talk to his new friends upstairs once he got Al settled for the night. "Um, I have to go in a little early tonight, so do you mind if I get you settled for the night a little bit earlier?"

Al nodded. "That's fine. I'm kind of tired anyway, so it might be good to get some sleep earlier tonight."

Ed released a sigh of relief. He had worried that Al wouldn't be okay with going to bed early. "Okay, that works out well, then."

They ate for a while in silence. Then Al smiled and spoke up again.

"Brother, how is your school going?" he asked.

"Oh, it's fine. A bit exhausting, but good. I have a couple classes I really like, one with a nice teacher named Hughes, and another with a guy that's a bit of a jerk named Mustang. But that's okay. I have Mustang first thing in the mornings, so I have to make sure I get there on time. He's a stickler on punctuality." Ed paused, though, remembering the other way he'd seen Mustang and felt a blush creep up his face. He cleared his throat. "But that's boring. I talked to the doctor about the surgery again, and everything seems to be on track for next fall as long as there are no delays."

"That's wonderful, brother. I'm so excited to see if they can help me walk again! Then I can go to school like you and do something with my life!" Al was always excited by the prospect of being able to go to school again. He could technically go now but he refused because it would have put more work on Ed.

After they finished with dinner and Ed had cleaned up the dishes, Ed got Al ready for bed. He was running about half an hour early, so that would give him time to go upstairs and check on his uninvited guests. If they were still there and he wasn't losing his mind. He went ahead and dressed for work, taking the time to put on his makeup and his coat. He made his way up the stairs again, wondering if he was going to see anyone there at all.

Everything was empty and quiet, and for a minute, Ed just stood there, wondering what to think. He was about to turn and go back downstairs when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He started and turned around to face the one that had called herself Lust.

"Oh, you are here," Ed said with a gasp at her.

"Of course, I am, we all are," she explained. "The others are around, but we thought since we overwhelmed you before, we would only come out one or two at a time."

Ed nodded. "That's very kind of you…" he mumbled.

"You are going to work," she said as she looked him over.

"Since you already know, it isn't worth it to hide it from you." He shifted uncomfortably as he stood there.

"You do a fine job with your looks, it would seem," she told him. "But something bothers you a great deal about your work."

"I don't want others to find out what I do. That's why I like the Lotus Blossom. I can work masked, and don't have to worry about being found out by others," he told her with a sigh. "It's legal, you know, and other people do it for reasons like I do, but I just like keeping that life out of my real life."

Lust nodded. "I was always proud of my position. I never hid what I did from anyone. Perhaps I am supposed to help you become comfortable with your profession."

"It's not my profession, though. I don't want to do this forever. Being a Kagema is easy, fast money, and that's what I need now. I'm paying for a special surgery for Al that might give him his legs back, and I have to do something that pays enough to support us and put money toward that." Ed sighed. "I didn't even want to get into this to begin with…"

Lust crossed her arms over her chest and gave him a sad smile. "How did you end up working as a Kagema, then?"

Ed swallowed hard and shifted his weight off his false leg. "I was with a friend that went to one. But they weren't really a friend. It turned out they were a recruiter of sorts for a place called The Gilded Lily. I don't know why so many brothels have names of flowers in them. Anyway, the owner of the place decided he liked my look and convinced me to stay the first time." He looked at her with a hollow look. "I didn't want to do it, not really, and I ended up getting hurt by the first guy I had because I tried to get away from him. Even with the money it promised, I decided that I couldn't do it. But that place…" Ed's gaze went far off for a second before returning to Lust. "I didn't get away from him, and there was another client, and another, and I was bruised when I was done. I didn't want to go back."

"But you did." Lust's face had taken on a softer look.

Ed nodded slowly. "The money was too good, so that's why I went back. I already was paying this doctor here in Central City for the surgery, but working at the brothel, I could afford to pay our bills and send enough money to the doctor that I'd have the surgery paid for by next year."

"How'd you end up at the Lotus Blossom?"

"Ling Yao was in the place one night. I thought he was just another customer, but he was scouting for his brothel here. So, he bought me and then took me to the back to talk to me about leaving and becoming a Kagema for the Lotus Blossom. He thought I'd play the part well, and he said my eyes would be a selling point. It was also near the University." Ed touched his face gently. "I had to come to Central City on the train several times and leave Al with someone else. I learned how to do the makeup that looked best behind the masks, and how to dress properly, how to hide my arm and leg."

Lust reached out and cupped his face, giving him a long look. "I wonder how I'm supposed to help you."

Ed shook his head. "I don't know, but it can't be staying at the Lotus Blossom. I don't wanna do that forever."

"I only know that we have to figure out how to help you in some way. You haven't told anyone about us, have you?" Lust asked as she pulled her hand back and stared at him.

Ed shook his head. "No. Who would believe that my house is haunted by seven cursed ghosts?"

Lust smiled at him, a gentle thing. "You're right. It does sound outlandish."

"I have to go. I guess I'll see you again soon. Can you go downstairs?" he wondered as he looked out over the railing.

Lust nodded. "We can go anywhere inside the house. We just can't be seen by anyone except you. No one else will know we're there, or be able to hear us, so you don't have to worry about your brother noticing us."

"That's good," Ed said and turned to go back down the stairs. "Um, just tell me if you have anything to talk about. I can listen to your stories, too, if you ever want to tell them." He headed down the stairs

Lust watched him go. "He's got quite a story, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, the pipsqueak's had it tough," Envy responded as he stepped out of the darkness. "But what he said at the end…"

"I know. No one has ever asked to hear our story before," Lust agreed. "Maybe this means something."

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Ed sighed as he hung his coat on the hook. He was still sleepy, so he hoped he didn't fall asleep during his shift on the sofas. He waved to Owner and Matron and headed out to sit and wait for customers to show up tonight. He sat on the end of one of the sofas next to another of the Kagema workers, a brown-haired young man named Randal. Randal was petite and slender, but rather non-confrontational. He was a rather quiet person and didn't do a lot of talking.

"How have you been doing, Randal?" Ed asked as they sat beside each other.

He smiled under his mask. "Been doing really well lately. I have been getting a few steady clients."

"That's good. I haven't had too many repeat visitors, but there's been a lot of first timers on my client load," Ed told him as he noticed a group of three coming down the aisle. "Maybe these are for us."

Ed watched as they stopped and talked to the girls at the front. They were loud, though, making more noise than was necessary as they tried to impress the workers. Ed shook his head and pulled his legs up tighter on the sofa. He hoped they found their choice for the night and went on their way. They were the type that made a show when they came into the place. He hoped they weren't drunk or something. They hadn't had an incident where someone had to be asked to leave in quite some time.

The three guys came closer to the sofa that Randal and Ed were sitting on. They came closer to them, one of them, a tall one with brown hair in a faded undercut, stepped to their side of the aisle.

"They really do have guys that dress up like chicks," he muttered, staring at Randal and Ed.

The other two came up beside him. "They said they're called 'kagema' or something," the second one, with long blond hair pulled back at the base of his neck.

"Are you girly boys any good?" the first one asked.

Randal glanced at Ed, then looked at the client. He cleared his throat. "We offer the services listed at the front."

"That's not what I asked. Why would I pick up one of you over those chicks up there?" he continued, narrowing his eyes at Randal.

"It just depends on your preference," Randal tried. He adjusted his kimono where it laid over his lap.

The third one, a shorter man with beady eyes and messy black hair, reached out and grabbed Randal by the arm, hauling him up to stand. "What's so special about you?"

Randal tried to keep his face neutral, but it was obvious the guy was scaring him a little. "Just different than the girls," he said, stumbling a bit as he got his balance.

"Hey, let him go," Ed said as he glared at these three. "You can't manhandle us like that. It's against the rules."

The first one leaned over and reached for Ed. Ed managed to avoid being grabbed and stood up instead. "What are you trying to do, shorty?" he growled at him.

Ed's one weakness was his height. He stepped closer to the guy and snarled, "What'd you call me?"

"I called you shorty, got a problem with it?" he did grab Ed by the arm this time.

Ed winced, feeling the guy's nails dig into him through his kimono. The guy had to be at least a foot taller than him, but it didn't intimidate him at all. He was too angry at him right then. "Yes, I got a problem with it…" Ed started.

"Now, what's the problem here?"

Ed glanced over and saw Matron coming toward them with the older bouncer, Fu. He looked like he was too old to do anything, but the truth was he was an expert fighter and more than capable of handling anyone in the Lotus Blossom. The one holding onto Randal shoved him backward, sending him tumbling into the sofa. Ed tried to pull his arm out of this guy's grip, but he had his flesh arm. He knew better than to use his automail arm because he could actually hurt this guy. That would look bad for the brothel, so he let his anger go. This was enough of a scene as it was.

"I'm afraid that I must ask you to let my worker go," Matron said with a cold edge to her voice. "Manhandling them is not allowed on the show floor."

Fu crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the one holding Ed's arm still. Matron wasn't looking too happy at the way things were going. The man gripping his bicep threw his arm back with a snort. Ed clipped the edge of his mask with his hand and felt it shift. He was too worried about what was happening to fix it.

"Sorry, just wanted some answers and your boys didn't seem to be too talkative," he said.

"They're not required to engage you in conversation unless you've paid for their time," Matron informed him. "If you're so interested in what they have to say, I'm sure that either of them would be more than happy to speak to you at length. Once you've paid their fee."

He looked annoyed at her answer, but Ed knew that she wouldn't budge on her position. Time was money in this business, and right now, these three were wasting both.

"Not like I'm a homo anyway and want some pansy boy," he said. "Besides, how do you know anything with these stupid masks on."

To Ed's surprise he reached out and snatched his mask away. Ed's eyes went wide and he reached for it, only to have it be held out of his reach. The guy held it over his face and looked at his friends before he tossed it toward the sofa.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave," Matron said finally.

Ed had grabbed the mask and replaced it as quickly as he could, but he gave a stiff glare to the one that had taken it.

"That's fine. Not like you have anything special here," he mumbled and walked back toward the door with the other two trailing him.

Matron looked at both Randal and Ed. "Are you both okay?"

Ed massaged his arm where he'd been grabbed and already felt the soreness from a bruise. He swallowed and nodded, though. "I'm fine."

"I'm okay, too. Just shaken up a little," Randal said as he adjusted his clothes where he was sitting still.

"If they come back again, and cause another disturbance, I'll deal with them permanently," Matron said and turned on her heel to go back to the front.

Ed let out a shaky breath he hadn't realized he was holding and slid down into the sofa again. "Those bastards," he mumbled. "How dare they."

Randal turned toward him and smiled. "You know how it is. Sometimes there's the bad ones, even in a good place like this."

"Have you worked somewhere else?" Ed asked him as he watched another man start walking down the opposite side to speak to some of the girls.

Randal shook his head. "No, but I've heard there are some very bad places out there."

"There are," Ed said as he stared at the new client that was walking away with one of the girls. "I worked at one where guys like that were a nightly thing, except they didn't do anything about it. I had a lot of bruises when I worked there. That's where the Owner found me, and he offered to give me a job at his place."

Randal nodded. "I've been lucky. I've almost saved enough money to get my sister moved into Central City with her son." He looked at Ed with a sad smile. "I guess we all have our reasons for working this kind of job, don't we?"

Ed sighed and straightened his braid on top of his head. "Yeah, I'm paying for a surgery for my brother and keeping us in a place to live." He glanced back over at Randal. "I don't think there's anyone here that doesn't have some kind of reason."

"Oh, there's another one, maybe he'll come down here," Randal said as another man came down toward them.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Ed was early for his next class with Mustang. He was determined to make a good impression on the guy and show he was serious about his school. He only had two classes on the day he took Mustang's class, so he was glad of that. The other one was taught by a Professor Hughes who had spent most the first class talking about his daughter. The class didn't mind the distraction, though. It was psychology, so Ed was looking forward to finding out if today they actually talked about the subject or not.

He took up a seat toward the back, just on the off-chance Mustang ever could recognize him. He would be mortified if he ever did. Having a teacher know what he did every night… However, he also knew that Mustang visited the Lotus Blossom, so that was something in his favor. It wasn't like it was illegal or anything. The Lotus Blossom was a higher-class brothel, too.

Mustang came into the room when the class was about half filled up and sat down at the desk in the front. Ed was reminded what a good-looking man he was, and kind of hoped he came back to the Lotus Blossom again. He certainly wouldn't mind spending more time with him. He felt his face heat up at the thought and looked down at his notebook again. He couldn't be thinking of that right now. He had to concentrate on the class and what was going on right now. Keeping up his grades was the second most important thing to him right after taking care of Al.

The class went well, and Ed found that he liked the way Mustang taught it. It was interesting and engaging. Ed had worried that the class would be a little dry and boring, but it seemed that Mustang was able to throw a good spin on the information. He gathered his things at the end of class and headed off toward the psychology room. He wasn't paying much attention to who was around him, so when someone grabbed him by the shoulder and slammed him into the wall, he was surprised.

"What?" he gasped as he looked up to find himself staring directly into the face of the guy that had caused a fuss at the Lotus Blossom.

"I thought it was you," he said with a wicked looking smile. "Couldn't mistake that pretty face, even without makeup."

"Let me go," Ed tried. "I don't know you."

"Oh yes you do, don't lie. The mask is a good cover, but your eyes give you away more than anything," he said. "I think you are the type that doesn't want people to know what you do at night, aren't you?"

Ed swallowed and shook his head. "What…what do you want?"

He could see the other two were with him too. The blond one smirked at him. "Jesse, what do we want?"

"I know what we want," the short one responded, moving to lean against the wall beside Ed. "Right, Damian?"

Jesse still had a hold of Ed's arm tightly. Again, he'd grabbed he flesh arm. It was just by chance he kept grabbing him by that side instead of his automail side. He squirmed against him and noticed the blond, Damian he guessed, was blocking his way beside this Jesse.

"Right, Gerald," Damian said as he crossed his arms over his chest. "We want you to be good and do what we say."

Jesse smirked, squeezing Ed's arm tightly. "Please," Ed begged, looking around and seeing no one else in the hallway right then. "Don't."

"Don't what?" Jesse asked as he leaned closer to his face. "You see, if you want us to keep your little secret, you're going to have to do something for us. I wonder how a whore that works at a brothel could pay us?"

Ed's eyes widened when he realized the implication of what he was saying. He shook his head. "N-no, I won't do that, that's not something I do…"

"Gerald, he says he doesn't do that kind of thing," Jesse said, turning to look at the short, beady eyed guy beside him.

Gerald reached a hand out and brushed it over Ed's automail arm. "Hey, something's weird about his arm," he said and grabbed him by the wrist.

"Stop!" Ed tried but he shoved his sleeve up nearly to his elbow, revealing the metallic limb.

"Oh, so he's got a fancy arm, now does he?" Jesse said with a smirk. "That's unusual. I didn't think there was a tech yet to so closely mimic a real arm. How far up does it go?"

Jesse pushed his sleeve up as far as it would go, and seeing that the limb continued up under his shirt, he grabbed Ed's collar and pulled it down until he could see where the metal met the flesh of his shoulder. Ed reached up and grabbed his hand with the automail one, using the extra strength it offered to pull his hand away.

"I see. But little Ed, wasn't that your name from the first day?" Jesse asked still with the smirk plastered to his face. "Yeah, that's your name. You have a problem. We know your secret. And we're going to make sure everyone finds out about your job."

"It's not illegal," Ed snapped, trying to get them to just leave the issue alone.

"No, no it's not. But it would be embarrassing to have everyone in school know that you were a whore on the side. Especially since you're a guy. There aren't a lot of those, you know. Far more acceptable to be a girl and a whore professionally. For a guy, well, that just means you are just a slut to start with." Jesse's closeness was getting to Ed. He wanted to just shove him away, but he also didn't want to get in trouble for hurting someone with his automail if he could avoid it. Winry would kill him if he did something to it that required fixing, too.

Ed was desperate for someone to show up, but no one seemed to be in he hallway right now. It was empty. "Look, I just want to be left alone," he tried as he pulled on his arm to get it out of Jesse's grip. He was going to have another bruise from him at this rate.

"You aren't gonna be left alone because you are going to have to give us something, so we keep your little secret," Jesse snarled at him, still too close to his face.

"What do you want?" Ed asked, truly afraid of what that answer was going to be.

Jesse's face morphed into a smile. "Services."

"What?" Ed asked, eyes wide.

"Your boss chased us out of your little workplace, and said if we ever come back, we'll be watched closely. I don't like that, so you're going to give me for free what I was there to buy since it's your fault we got kicked out," he said simply.

Ed clucked his tongue and shook his head. "I can't do that. We're not supposed to take clients outside the brothel!"

"We're not clients, though. You're giving us services for free. There's no exchange going on here at all. You give, we take. Just like we would with any regular whore that doesn't get paid to lay on their back." Jesse's smile was still plastered to his face.

Ed didn't know what to say. These guys were blackmailing him, and he didn't know how to handle it. Should he let them tell others, or did he need to do what they wanted? He swallowed convulsively for a second and closed his eyes tightly. What should he do?

"It shouldn't be that hard of a choice, Ed," Jesse said as the other two chuckled. "You're going to meet us at the back alley behind the school at three o'clock. And you're going to give us what we want or by tomorrow everyone is going to know what you are."

"What's going on here?" a voice finally in the hallway. Ed opened his eyes and stared over to see Mustang standing there.

"Oh, nothing, sir, just having a little chat with our new friend Ed, here," Jesse said as he stepped back, letting go of Ed's arm finally.

"Your chat looks less than friendly," Mustang commented, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at the three of them.

"We were done, anyway," Jesse said and stuffed his hands into his pockets before he turned and headed down the hallway. Gerald and Damian smiled at Ed before they turned and walked away.

Ed just stood there against the wall for a moment until he felt someone touch his shoulder. He startled and gasped, looking into Mustang's face.

"Sorry!" he finally managed.

"It's okay. Were those guys bothering you about something?" Mustang asked, looking genuinely concerned.

"Ah, no, it's nothing, really," Ed managed and straightened back up. "Um, I have to go to my next class. See you later, sir," he said and escaped down the hallway toward his psychology class.

Mustang stood there staring after him for a few minutes. The way those boys were crowded around him, and the look on his face… He knew something had happened there. He didn't know how to deal with the strange emotions that were associated with that boy either. He turned and went back into his classroom to sit down. It was bad enough that he slept with a student, but now he found himself truly worried about him. His attempts to put distance between them had failed miserably.


End file.
